Ralph Carter is clear about what he would like to see as he begins serving as president of the South Carolina Baptist Convention: churches setting aside competitiveness and uniting to promote the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Ralph Carter answers questions at a press conference following his election as SCBC president Nov. 14.At a Nov. 14 press conference, moments after he was elected 2013 SCBC president, Carter said the Great Commission was intended not for any single individual, pastor, church or denomination, but “for the Church – with a capital C.”
“For us to reach the nations, it’s going to require all of us working together, at times overlooking minor differences, for the sake of communicating the gospel to those who are lost,” said Carter, pastor of Brushy Creek Baptist Church in Taylors.
“I don’t think I’ve seen in my lifetime a concerted effort on the part of churches to come together and say we’re working as a unit to get the gospel out, to see the world won,” he said.
Carter said he thinks there is “competitiveness” among individual churches and too much “territorial thinking,” and added that the denomination has “unwittingly” played a role in that way of thinking in how baptisms and conversions are reported.
“If one church has a great deal of conversions, and another has very few, it can create animosity between those two,” Carter said. “I would love to see us come to the place where we didn’t emphasize so much how many Brushy Creek won [to Christ] this year, but how many the Greenville Baptist Association or the South Carolina Baptist Convention reached.”
Carter said his vision for the state convention is to “bring all South Carolina Baptists together – not just for the sake of having harmony, but to see us have a singular vision of getting the gospel out – and to really be together in that.”
“When we talk about unity, we feel as though we’re a team,” he said. “I don’t know that right now we feel that. I hope we will.”
A Seneca native, Carter has served as pastor at Brushy Creek Baptist Church since 1992. He also has served in several denominational positions, most notably as chairman of the SCBC’s Great Commission Resurgence Task Force in 2011.
Carter and his wife, Regina, have two adult children and one granddaughter. (For more biographical information, including Carter’s testimony, visit http://www.baptistcourier.wpengine.com/7927.article.)
Carter was elected during the Wednesday morning business session with 349 of 553 votes cast. He was nominated by Fred Stone, pastor of Pickens First Baptist Church and a former SCBC president.
Ty Childers, pastor of Fairview Baptist Church, Spartanburg, was nominated for state convention president by David Gallamore, pastor of Rock Springs Baptist Church in Easley and a former SCBC president. Childers received 204 votes.